Genre Discussion - Hack n' Slash/Beat em' Up

Hack n' Slash / Beat em' Up

            I absolutely love the Hack n' Slash/Beat em' Up genre. On a personal level, the most enjoyment I had during my tween and early teen years came from Hack n' Slash games. On a professional level, this is the second most lucrative genre behind First Person Shooter games. They're fun, feature addictive mechanics, and interesting economic/item management systems. Now that we've entered the digital age and a large portions of games are transitioning to the "freemium" model, Hack n' Slash games have the potential to be the most profitable genre. However, I remember Beat em' Up games fondly from the 90's during the peak and fall of arcades. Most Beat em' Ups are designed so that players will eventually lose and must continue to feed the cabinet quarters. Unfortunately, this model did not translate well to the home market, leading to the genre being all but dead. In recent years, Beat em' Up games have had a resurgence in popularity with games like Castle Crashers and Battle Block Theater.

            Whenever I think about "good" Hack n' Slash/Beat em' Up games I think of fast faced fluid combat, a variety of classes and/or weapons, tiered items, a strong loot drop system, and economy. Fast paced combat is a common theme between every Hack n' Slash and Beat em' Up game I have ever played or seen and is the core of the "fun" in a Hack n' Slash game. The combat also usually features pitting the player against varying types and strengths of enemies which ties into the loot drop system. To juxtapose the high adrenaline nature of combat, which is what the player will spend the most time doing, a good Hack n' Slash usually features travel times to balance the game pacing. Additionally, having an extremely wide variety of weapons/items with tiered uniqueness (e.g. common, uncommon, rare, and unique/"set" item) that drop all of the time. However, rarer item versions drop less often to keep the player addicted and coming back day after day playing for hours. Furthermore, this kind of loot system is the backbone of the game's economy (only applicable for Hack n' Slash since Beat em' Up usually only features linear items to boost the player's abilities for maximum combat vs. having to deal with vendors or trading with other players). While items are typically sold to venders for money, good Hack n' Slash games ultimately create a second economy system where top tier weapons, armor, and items are traded among players for either massive amounts of money or for other items.

            The Diablo series is, and forever will be the best example of a Hack n' Slash game. Each iteration evolves the gameplay, art style, item system, and economy from the last. Even starting with the first Diablo game, it featured fast, adrenaline-pumping combat (albeit due in part to the player always moving at one single walk speed), a ton of different weapons, armor, and auxiliary items of ranging rarity - the most unique of which had custom models to further set them apart. In addition to the super fun gameplay, items, level-up system, and trading economy, Diablo also featured a super compelling story which urged the player to keep playing till the end. When the player does get to the end, the final confrontation with the game's titular boss feels well worth the effort and they are rewarded with a plethora of items for multiple playthroughs on harder difficulties and one of Blizzard's infamous cinematic sequences.

            While I remember it fondly, Battle Toads may be the most famous worst example of a Beat em' Up game. Battle Toads is infamous for its extreme difficulty which stems from its origins in the arcade. Thus, it was designed so the player died often and had to continue feeding the machine money to keep playing. The game's visuals were fun and the gameplay was exciting which encouraged players to continue playing. However, this design is the quickest way to kill your game in the home console market. The game lives on as one of the most difficult games for the Nintendo Entertainment System - featuring friendly fire and environments that create poor spatial awareness for players. Thus, Battle Toads' rage-enduring friendly fire and lack of check points makes it an overall terrible Beat em' Up game.

Derek holds a Bachelor's Degree in Game Design and has two and a half years of game development experience. To view other work please visit www.dereksinex.com or his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JDKevlar